A former high-ranking Egyptian government official has said that in the weeks ahead of the September 11 attacks in 2001, Egypt warned the Bush administration repeatedly about an imminent large-scale terror attack to be carried out by al-Qaeda operatives on US soil, but the message was ignored.

Habib al-Adly, who served from 1997 to 2011 as minister of the interior for the Mubarak government, said in court testimony that Egypt received intelligence “from inside the al-Qaeda den” that “America would be subject to a huge terror attack.” In testimony last month that was translated and posted online Tuesday by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Adly said the intelligence was verified and analyzed, and then Mubarak gave the order to pass it on to the US in May of 2001.

The information was passed to both the CIA and FBI several times, Adly said, as Egyptian intelligence received word that the terror attack was moving from the planning to operation stage.

“In May 2001, we received information about a huge terror attack to be perpetrated against the US. This information came from inside the al-Qaeda den. Such information does not come from just any collaborator,” said Adly. “We were told that America would be subject to a huge terror attack. We conducted an analysis and tried to verify this, and ultimately, we were convinced that an attack was being prepared. I said to President (Mubarak): ‘I have information that a huge terror attack will be carried out in the US.’

“He said okay. We invited the CIA and FBI, and told them we had information that this was going to take place. They thanked us. In August of that year, we received information that the attack had entered the operational phase. Preparing an operation of such magnitude requires time. We were told that the attack had entered the operational phase. We had a recording of our conversation with our source. I told the president that the information had been verified, and that we should notify the Americans. He agreed, and we invited them again, and told them that the attack had entered the operational phase. They said: ‘Okay, thank you.’ Then the attack on the World Trade Center took place. That was the attack,” Adly testified.

Later, in 2002, Mubarak met with Bush and asked why the US hadn’t heeded Egypt’s warnings, but Bush said he had no knowledge of the intelligence.

Eventually, al-Adly said, the CIA admitted it had received a warning, but “said the warning hadn’t been in writing” and evidently wasn’t passed on.